Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African-American Women

(Paperback)

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A celebration of the journey of African-American women toward a new spirituality grounded in social awareness, black American tradition, metaphysics, and heightened creativity.

Features illuminating insights from Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, Lucille Clifton, Dolores Kendrick, Sonia Sanchez, Michele Gibbs, Geraldine McIntosh, Masani Alexis DeVeaux and Namonyah Soipan.

By a widely published scholar, poet, and activist who has been interviewed by the press, television, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered

From the last part of the twentieth century through today, African-American women have experienced a revival of spirituality and creative force, fashioning a uniquely African-American way to connect with the divine. In Soul Talk, Akasha Gloria Hull examines this multifaceted spirituality that has both fostered personal healing and functioned as a formidable weapon against racism and social injustice.

Through fascinating and heartfelt conversations with some of today's most creative and powerful women--women whose spirituality encompasses, among others, traditional Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, Native American teachings, meditation, the I Ching, and African-derived ancestral reverence--the author explores how this new spiritual consciousness is manifested, how it affects the women who practice it, and how its effects can be carried to others.

Using a unique and readable blend of interviews, storytelling, literary critique, and practical suggestions of ways readers can incorporate similar renewal into their daily lives, Soul Talk shows how personal and social change are possible through reconnection with the spirit.

Reviews

"In this intelligent work of the heart and spirit, Hull reveals the exquisite and reflective interiors of African-American women." * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
"Soul Talk is a worthy tribute to Toni Cade Bambara and to the lives and work of African American women writers." * Toni Morrison, author of Beloved and Paradise *
"Hull has given us new revelations. I have seen many of my sisters embracing a new light in their lives--African American women giving birth to brightness and walking along the river of grace and redemption. This book talks to me. Soul to soul." * E. Ethelbert Miller, author of Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer *
"Akasha Hull's Soul Talk offers us a cartography of New Age Spirituality from the perspective of African American women. Embracing Spirit as a world view infused with political aspirations and creative impulses, she visions a new trinity of renewal and redemption, grounded in suffering, survival, and resistance." * Bettina Aptheker, Chair of Women's Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz *
"A beautiful testament and tribute to the power of black women. Here, the one-dimensional New Age paradigm shifts to a "True Age" model for integrating spirituality, politics, and creativity. This book will help men understand why women are, and must be, in the forefront of a spiritual culture that could save us all. Ache O." * Luisah Teish, author of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals *
"This is a powerful and immensely uplifting work for women of all ethnic backgrounds. The new spiritual consciousness, as revealed by the women who practice it, serves as a light by which we can envision a better world for all beings." * MTB, Napra ReView, January February 2002 *

Author Bio

Akasha Gloria Hull, Ph.D., is a writer, professor of literature and womens studies, lecturer, and consultant. Her previous books include Color, Sex, and Poetry: Three Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance; Give Us Each Day: The Diary of Alice Dunbar-Nelson; All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave; and Healing Heart: Poems 1973-1987. She lives in northern California.